Centered on lead vocalist and guitarist Doug Martsch, the only permanent member, Built to Spill has released nine albums since its inception.

Former Treepeople guitarist/vocalist Doug Martsch formed Built to Spill in 1992 with Brett Netson and Ralf Youtz as the band's original members.

[4] After the band's first album, Ultimate Alternative Wavers, was released in 1993, Netson and Youtz were replaced by Brett Nelson and Andy Capps for 1994's There's Nothing Wrong with Love.

Unlike many artists signed to major labels, the deal the band brokered with Warner Bros. allowed it to retain a large degree of creative control over future albums.

Perfect from Now On was met with critical success and caused Built to Spill to become one of the United States' most recognizable indie rock bands.

This forced the band to miss an appearance at the South by Southwest music festival and postpone several dates of the tour.

[16] In a March 2008 interview with Playback:stl,[17] Martsch spoke of new material from the Halo Benders, a collaboration between Martsch, Calvin Johnson, Steve Fisk, former Treepeople member Wayne "Rhino" Flower, and original Built to Spill drummer Ralf Youtz, but "we started that about a year ago, we have not even got anything off the ground."

This self-titled EP, which featured one song from each Built to Spill record (using anagrams of their original titles) and newly recorded vocals by Doug Martsch, received a moderately favorable review in Pitchfork, even though "it was obviously released as a goof," and the "good moments almost make you wish Martsch had taken this concept more seriously.

[22] On October 25, 2012, Built to Spill played a secret, invitation-only show at the Bunk Bar in Portland, Oregon, with a new rhythm section consisting of Jason Albertini (Helvetia, Duster) on bass and Stephen Gere (Uzala, Brett Netson Band, Atomic Mama) on drums.

[23] On January 7, 2013, Martsch, Netson and guitarist Jim Roth announced that Albertini and Gere would be permanent replacements for Plouf and Nelson, who were departing the band amicably.

[26] Brett Netson and Jim Roth left the band in the latter half of 2015 and a trio lineup of Martsch, Albertini and Gere debuted on a spring 2016 West Coast run.

[27] In October 2018, Martsch announced on Facebook that the band will return to his initial idea of having a shifting rotation of members for each release.

Brazilian musicians João Casaes and Lê Almeida served as the rhythm section for a set of South American shows.

He further described the band's sound as an intermixture of "postmodern, Pavement-style pop" and the "loose, spacious jamming" associated with the likes of Neil Young.

[36] Built to Spill's work has been said to have been an influence on alternative rock acts such as Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie.